St Paddys' day weekend....

March 16th

This is from an email answering some questions from my neighbor back home who teaches Social Studies...

Its going to be strange coming home after a year or so out here.  So many people, fast moving cars, all that concrete, winter, people with problems....

Majuro is just one of the Marshalese Islands about a half hour flight on United 154 from Kwajalein.  Kwaj is its own banana shaped island, the southern part of an atoll surrounding the largest lagoon in the world.  Ebeye is just north of Kwaj.  Its possible to walk to Ebeye (about a mile) at low tide, but the reef would be a little treacherous, also there are two smaller islands (Little Busterd, and Big Busterd) that separate Ebeye from Kwaj.  I actually was on Little Busterd today.  Its illegal, without permission from the Republic of the Marshal Islands to land on any other Marshalese Island out here with a boat, but apparently the people I went with had permission.  Little Busterd, which I thought was uninhabited, is only about 5 acres big.  It turns out there is one guy living on it. He has some bits and pieced of tin and plywood for a home the size your log cabin.  He also has a dog, two small pigs and a few chickens.  He's happy when you bring him sugar or coffee.

Ebeye on the other hand is the most densely populated island in the world I've read and have been told.  We can take a ferry over there, but I haven't yet.  It's 90 acres and has around 15,000 people on it, most of them children.  The ferry brings them over to Kwaj where many of them work.  One of our mechanics is married to a Marshalese woman whom he said he went over there one Saturday night, got drunk, and woke up married.  He said he lived there for two years, taking the ferry back and forth.  He said there is no running water over there and that a 5 gallon bucket becomes your best friend.  The bucket is to carry water over from Kwaj on the ferry.  All the Marshalese workers we have over here take showers here before getting on the ferry to go home.  They are all generally very nice and very helpful to a fault.  Any Marshalese that makes it to the States can get a free college education at any university they qualify for.  I'm assuming its because we screwed them over so bad in the 50's or 60's and we basically took 11 of their islands.  I also hear the Japanese were incredibly brutal to them before we took the islands and did nuclear testing on some of them.  The King and Queen of the RMI (republic of the marshal islands) and the land owners here also screw the Marshalese too.  I've heard we lease this Island (just Kwaj is what I've heard ) for 79 million a year.  That money goes to the King and Queen and they give some to the land owners.  Their people live in squalor on Ebeye, and get nothing to make civil improvements.  In fact the King and Queen don't even live out here, they live in Hawaii.  I've been told they come to Ebeye sometimes and the Queen throws quarters to the kids and they love her for it.  I know some of the Marshalese want to assassinate their king, but it would do no good cause the landowners or princes or the next in line would just keep up the corruption.

I would imagine the unemployment rate is higher than 35%, but I don't know.  I don't know what they do for money over there.  I know they are poor, but they also don't have all the crap in their lives that we seem to think we need....cars, cell phones, televisions, etc..  I haven't heard that they export less than they import, but it makes sense.  I mean they just don't have the means to produce much of anything.  We went sailing today and I got about as close to Ebeye as I have yet, and their are some big buildings over there, but I don't really know what goes on.  I'm not sure where they get their water from because there are a few restaurants over there so they must have running water.  Kwaj uses the runways as a catchment system for what they call lense wells.  The fresh water sits on top of the salt water in the limestone centers of the island.  Maybe its coral centers of the island.  When it rains here it can really rain, like so hard you can't see ten feet in front of you.  We got 6 inches last Tuesday.  Its raining as I right this, it usually rains at night during the windy season.  I rode my bike around the island on Tuesday just to see the giant lakes of water from the rain, and there weren't any, apparently there is good drainage here.  Ebeye, I'm told, doesn't have good drainage.  Another mechanic told me to wait a few days and the Marshalese will start coming over sick, because of the sewage

I don't know about their legal system, except that if you land a boat on Ebeye they arrest you, strip you naked and put you in jail.  Quenton, the mechanic that married the Marshalese woman said he knew someone that spent four years in a prison on Majuro....naked eating fishheads and rice. 

Sorry I don't know the answers just yet to all your questions, I'll talk to some of the Marshalese next week.  They are good guys.

I am having a great time out here.  I am the lab manager for San Juan Construction.  I have the work history and the certifications that qualified me.  The construction project I'm not supposed to talk about but you can google it and get plenty of information.  The money is great and tax free if I stay out here 330 days and don't come back for more than 30.  The living conditions aren't the greatest, but they definitely could be worse.  The people out here (mostly Americans) are a little off, but mostly really nice.  I met a guy in the pool while doing laps a month ago who loves to sail, but often can't find anyone to go.  He's a great teacher, and he knows his stuff.  I tried to go surfing late this morning but the waves were too big and the reef didn't have enough cover on it to make me feel comfy, so I left and called Jim and we went sailing.  While getting back to the dock, Kristen and her boyfriend Joe were getting ready to leave to go kite boarding (a new sport for them) on Little Busterd in their zodiac and asked me to go.  So I got off the sailboat and hopped in their zodiac and went kiteboarding with them.  I learned to kite a long time ago, and they knew it and wanted someone there to give them some confidence and help.  The pictures above are from a previous weekend snorkeling trip with two other surfing friends.  One guy likes to spear fish while snorkeling and he shot the tuna, then we caught the Ono on the way back with a line Tim had put in off the back of the boat.  He rented the boat from the small boat marina here.

I am the luckiest guy I know.

The pics for fun in order are 1- the concrete weights we made in the lab, 2- the friends that invited me out snorkeling and spear fishing and he shot a tuna and caught an ono. 3- Tim and his catch 4 and 5 - I actually had it in my head to swim down and grab a sharks tail that was messing around under a rock.  He was only about 24" long, but its still probably good I ran out of air first and had to come up

March 21, 2015 ? I think.

 We played Frisbee tonight.  I set up in a field that was too small and one of the Stophers (name changed to protect their identity) came over and prodded me into checking with the guy who runs the recreational stuff to see if our normal field was actually taken over by a softball game.  It wasn't.  However, Mike, Josh, Derek and one more were over there when I started setting up the field.  They were there to practice cause they new there wasn't a game...so I moved our field perpendicular to the normal setup which left the coconut tree that tried to hit me in the face with a coconut near the east endzone...and still in our field of play.  Ah what the hell, we can work around one tree easy enough.  Our sideline was within easy range of right field for their practice, but as far as I could shift it south without involving more coconut trees in the game.  Someone nailed it on the softball field about a half hour into our Frisbee game.  They yelled, I had been keeping an eye out for them and saw the ball coming to our crowd and went running thinking it was going to nail Katherine Stopher, the 20 year old pseudo mother of the 3 other Stophers playing.  I jumped up as it came down and realized it wasn't going to hit her at the same time I realized I missed it with my bare hand.  It worked out.  They changed the way they were batting for a while and  then another came.  My eye never really left them, because everyone likes to nail a softball, so when it came I did the same thing again except I yelled at our players as I ran towards the ball and they scattered.  It worked out again.  Life has a great way of working out on this island.

I wonder sometimes if I'm so happy here because I have no money worries, because the money is so good, or because all the rest of it.  I mean sunshine, lots of sunshine makes serotonin....makes you happy.  I have so much fun stuff to do here...with so many good people...is that it?  There is no stress at work..is that it?  I'll take some new pics soon...




 

Life is good...

Sunday is a big day for me, for all of us on Kwaj I guess.  I can't believe I made it thru without the nap that I've been taking.  I run around like an ant all week after work, then drink a little too much on Saturday, which amounts to 6 beers in 4 hours.  Last Saturday (Feb 14) we got off work early at 3:30.  I rode the bicycle I stole to the cafeteria where the only bike in the bike rack was mine.  I left the bike I stole there, grabbed mine headed to the Kwaj lodge and changed clothes and headed to the gym.  I did my normal half hour of intense workout, then headed to the pool to swim ten laps ( half mile).  I rode back to the lodge threw some laundry in the wash then rode back to town to buy a bike rack.  Then came back to put another load in and then head out to the other side of the island to my lab where the tools are, and put the rack on the back of my newly acquired bike, along with the homemade "basket".  Then I tried to get back quickly because the timing on the washing machines was running out and I didn't want to tie them up.  So I basically did a sprint triathalon after work...then went to the bar and drank a few beers....but made it to sleep by 9pm.  So Sunday....get up at 5am...mess around eat something then head to the beach for volleyball with the strict volley ball crowd at 8am...play til 11am....head to the cafeteria for lunch, eat, then head home to make phone calls back home then head to the marina...go out sailing for 4 hours.  Come back at 4:30, head to the cafeteria, eat, then go home shower and head to the beach for more volleyball.

LIFE...is good

Feb 20, 2015

what I'm about to say is a lifelong ambition of mine....I went surfing today after work.  That's it.  I have a 9' Dewey Weber surfboard that I bought a month ago.  Tonight ...I actually rode the thing...not like once but 8x.  Its a monumental feat in my mind...OH and here are some pics from last weekend.  I went sailing with a guy I met at the pool and his buddy who met us at the Marina.  While I waited on them to get there, because I'm too hyper to be on island time, I snapped some pics of the morning catch.  I'm fairly certain I just need to hang out there with some baggies to get some great filets.  Ono, Mahi mahi, tuna......its all good.   The pictures show mainly Ono....a fish I've never heard of before, but it tastes good.  There is a pic of the sharks that hang out in the marina to eat the scraps from the table where they clean the fish.  The other pics are of the small boat marina on a typical sunday morning.....and then there's a typical Sunday evening Sunset at Emon beach...

 

 

Feb 21, 2015...

 

I found a Thai lady on the island that gives massages.  John, the guy who sold me the nice surfboard, told me about her. It turns out she's his neighbor.  I show up on the bike and John's wife Christy is outside (its their anniversary John told me earlier that day when I called him to give him a surf report)(He said he couldn't go surfing).  She asked me if I was getting a massage.  I wonder if she knew that I knew it was their anniversary.  "Nee" answered the door.   She's a short, Thai woman, that I find out later is my age.  She and I were born in the year of the horse.  Apparently we are hard working hyper people.  I agreed.  She opened the door to their dome (Kwaj dome....no time to explain...) and I see a typical living room (except its round everywhere) with a gray balding guy who never looks up and I assume he is her husband.  Nee ushers me back to a bedroom where the massage table is set up next to a treadmill and maybe a gliding sort of thing used for excercise. 

 

It was a great massage.  Nee can't handle silence, which is fine.  Her broken English is completely understandable.  It was a great massage.  No complaints.  It's only my second professional massage so I don't have much to go on, except that the first will be hard to live up to.  I was so relaxed at the end of the first one that I just wanted to spend the night, right there.  Just shut the damned door and leave me.  She didn't.  Nee's massage was good, but despite getting only 5 hours of sleep the night before, I was not ready to sleep.  Maybe it was the way she crawled up on my back.

 

 

My (surf coach) Shawn invited me to go boating with 3 others tomorrow morning.  He's a good guy who would yell nicely while a wave was about to overtake me at the "Pit".  "GOGOGOGOGO!!!"  Ok so it's not so much coaching as it is cheerleading.  Regardless, I'm getting better.  Anyhow he invited me to a half day of recreational snorkeling off this rock.  Its good to get off this rock.  Here are some pics.  We snorkeled and his friend Tim had a spear fishing gun.  I was looking forward to him getting a fish, because it would mean the sharks come.  Maybe if I were the one shooting getting the fish back to the boat I wouldn't be wishing for sharks.  Only one showed up.  Tim said the sharks in these islands are "assholes".  Here are the pics.  Its a yellowfin tuna he shot , then an Ono he caught later on the line.  We are having a cookout Monday night to eat them.

 





 

 

 

 

 

March 1, 2015....

 

 

I took a walk today with a girl I met.  More about that some other time.  We walked Ocean side just up wind of the run way.  It was really hot, no wind, or very little.  On the way back we stepped out on to a beachy area and I got in the water.  I went in above my waist.  I've never felt current like that before.  I got knocked off balance and in a matter of seconds got swept about 60 feet down the beach before regaining my footing.  It kind of scared me.  One rip current and I would have been gone....well not gone...but out where the waves would have smashed me into the coral at the very least. 

 

 

March 6, 2015

 

 

Someone on the local "swap" posted a BC (buoyancy compensater ? along with an "air2" for $300.  At the shop it sells for $450.  So now I'm going to ad scuba to the list of things to do on the weekend.  Dammit.  There is way too much to do out here.

 

We played Ultimate tonight.  My two lab techs, Ray and James, Phelia, Gary the engineer and way over my head boss that we sub contract from, Greg - the new electrician that is winning me over when he's sober (although he cusses too much) and then after Gary pulled a muscle Katherine showed up.  She is the oldest and wisest of the M children that have come to be the backbone of these games.  Phelia, originally from Jamaica and a great runner, Gary (until his injury), then Katherine and I stomped the competition.  Ray, James and Greg.  They had the height, but not the throwing skill and not the athleticism.

 



 

 

 

 

 

Valentines Day

Qwenton...put out some more dirt.  I asked him, because the leader of boating license class said if you land your boat on Ebeye they will arrest you and throw you in jail naked.  Qwenton said it depends on who you know and how bad things are politically at the moment.  He said he knows a guy who has been naked in a jail on Majuro for 4 years eating only fish heads and rice. He thinks he might be out now. 

Feb 11, 2015

I got off work at 4:55 rode the bike to the hotel (1/2 mile), changed, made it to the gym 1 mile away at 5:10, did 100 toes to bars and 100 80# curls, left there and rode 3/4 mile to the pool, got there at 5:47,changed into swim trunks, did a quarter mile swimming, left there at 6:10, went to the cafeteria (1/8 miles) ate a little,stopped by the grocery story (3/4 mile) then road to the rec center by 6:30 (1/4 mile) to take boating license class.
There is plenty to do here.  In fact, there is too much to do here, and I like it all, although I would still say I like Ohio better.  Maybe after a month and a half, I'm just still homesick.  I do know I'm sick a little still over Benji, and bummed a little still about how things were left with one long time friend.  I am guessing all this will change shortly.  It is a small island, pretty easy to make friends, everyone is really nice.  I do know the long time residents don't seem to like people too much.  I mean they use words like "crowded" and "all those people" and they talk about Roi (Namur) like its great because there are so fewer people on it. 

Feb 6, 2015

I heard the other day, Quenton(sp?), the mechanic who married the Marhalese woman on Ebeye who now lives in Enon Oklahoma with their kids, went to Ebeye several years ago, got really drunk and woke up the next day married.  I keep hearing stories like this. 

Feb 7, 2016..

An email to John, the former father of Big Red (my surfboard) who asked how "the pit" was this morning.  "The Pit" has to be the surfing spot.  I'm sure he mentioned it, in between me sucking down salt water while sitting there listening to him telling me some tips on how to surf...........


The pit was good I think, but as I was paddling back out, exhausted, feeling old, burping salt water, and bleary eyed...I think I saw you out there north of the pit.  I have been out there everyday this week.  The past two days were intimidating and only served to wear me out for the one day (today...Saturday) that was meant for me.

I have kept BIG RED in great shape and treated her well, in the hopes that some day she will return the favor.  She might be mad at me this week because all she has offered me is the bottom of a wave, however today..

I learned ..while trying to catch a wave....to move her forward if I'm late in catching and back if I'm early.

It was a  good day.

Oh, also something I may not have mentioned.  Our temporary housing, the "Kwaj lodge" wasn't really designed for privacy.  The room across the hall has ductwork (like 20 x 20" ductwork) leading into my room.  I can hear the idiots across the hall better in my room than standing next to their door in the hallway.  I've had to listen to the latest idiot talk to his Phillipino girlfriend on Skype way too much.  "yea honey that's the bed back there....its not big enough for the both of us but I still wish you were in it with me" or "I can only afford to send 2000 pesos this time sorry honey, its all I can do "  ($40 American) or ....."yea that's the shower...I wish you were here in it with me".  I thought the guy was in his twenties cause I could here him saying in a belch "oh yeaaa" or "howya doin"....Then I hear him tonight talking to someone outside the room in the hallway..."I can't go tonight ..me and my new roommate are talking about gaming".  I gotta get a look at this guy.  He has to be twelve.  I open my door to go to the bathroom. The idiot is some curly haired chubby guy in his mid to late 30's.

I am once again proud to be the man I am.  Thank you jerk off from across the hall.

February 8,2015........................

Becky...I've been learning alot out here. I keep thinking of this quote from confucious ----The Master said, Even when walking in a party of no more than three I can always be certain of learning from those I am with. There will be certain qualities that I can select for imitation and bad ones that will teach me what requires correction in myself....

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I can safely say you and Marty have given me qualities to imitate. Out here, unfortunately, I have found many bad ones that will teach me "what requires correction in myself" so goes the quote. I paraphrase and say..."qualities I do not want to emulate"

I'm learning from others how to be a better man, unfortunately its from looking at the bad side.

February 2015

A letter to a friend.....

Its our Saturday night here, but actually its Sunday at 8pm.  We work, pretty much the whole island works Tuesday to Saturday, so we have Sundays and Mondays off.

It's turning out to be more of a money thing than an adventure thing.  I mean, it is a beautiful island in the south pacific, but its more of a working island not geared so much towards tourism.  I have only been here a month so maybe things will change.  I am going to get a boating license, which will allow me to rent a boat and take off to other islands (most are uninhabited) and surf or scuba or kiteboard with some people I have met.  I have my kiteboarding stuff here now, and I bought a surfboard.

Most of what I do here is kind of domestic/mundane.  I work out a lot, play beach volleyball twice a day on sundays, surf if the tide is up after work or if not on the weekend during the day, and for two weeks now I have gathered enough people to play ultimate Frisbee on Monday evenings.  Its a small island with about 1200 people on it.  I am going to get recertified with the Scuba stuff...its something I'm not all that into, but I can't come clear out here and not dive I hear...there is just too much to see.  There is a free ferry to get to Ebeye (I've read its the armpit of the south pacific) which I've heard and read is the most densely populated place on earth.  All living is squalor, partly due to our involvement in the 50's and partly due to the Marshallese Monarchy system...

There are no private vehicles, so everyone ride a bike everywhere.  I'd imagine I've put around 400 miles on mine (we have a work truck that my lab tech and I have put 200 miles on in 3wks).  The food is cafeteria food with over cooked meat, but there are a lot of healthy choices.

It is basically an Army post, but hardly any military guys are here.  Maybe 5% active military, and they are hard to distinguish from any one else.  I am considered an Ex Pat.  They are paying me well, and the first 97k is tax free if I stay away more than 330 days, and don't come back for more than 30, which I will only get two weeks off in July anyhow.  Real work hasn't started and won't for another month or two, but it promises to be busy.  I am officially the "lab manager" for the materials testing lab for San Juan Construction based out of Colorado.  Its a strange skill set and bunch of certifications I've picked up over the past ten years.  This job will boost my resume tremendously, so I take it very seriously while I am at work.

Luke I will leave you with a pic of one of the beautiful trimarans (sp?) that I've seen down here...
and some other pics

I guess I have to change this to First Month on Kwaj

Hopefully, I'll get some pics today while exploring around the island because its the weekend now.  I'm going to the "Kwaj Swap and Shop" from 9 to 11 to see what I can do about a surf board, a crucial element to my survival here, and a crucial part of my dream life-living in a place I can go surfing everyday after work. 

1-11-15
I went to Emon Beach (it means perfection in Marshalese) where the swap was supposed to be.  Turns out I was a day early, however there were some guys and girl playing volleyball.  They were all very nice, even though I sucked.  They were a bit serious about it, stating rules I had never heard of, and some I had but never thought anyone on a beach in the middle of no where would care about.  It was still fun, and nice to find a small group of active people.  I did bring up the Frisbee with not too much luck, judging by their reactions.  Here's a pic of Emon Beach this morning....

As you can see its a terrible place to be.

I've been learning a lot.  It's a strange mix of people out here.  Many are ex military, many are lifelong contractors, some are ex patriots living cheaply in Guam, the Phillipines, or Taiwan.  Some of the older lifelong, ok, just one, is mostly pretty creepy.  One old guy has a wife in Taiwan, it seems legit, as legit as legit as a long distance marriage can be I guess.  I talked to another this afternoon at the cafeteria.  I knew he was the mechanic for our company.  I didn't know he had been out here that long.  He sat down after I did at lunch, then Bert joined.  Bert is a completely big guy, about 6'4" and over 300 pounds.  He's been pretty cool to talk to.  Deep voice but mainly talks about normal things.  The mechanic started telling us there is no running water on Ebeye.  Ebeye is the Marshalese island 15 minutes away by ferry from Kwajalein.  I'm told its smaller than Kwaj, but instead of 1500 people it has 15000.  The mechanic matter of factly told us about his life on Ebeye because he married one of the women there.  He'd had two children by her, but for whatever reason you cannot marry a Marshalese woman and bring her back to Kwaj, nor can you bring the kids you may have with her.  He tried to enroll them in kindergarden over here but was told it would cost $6000 per child.  It is free for Marshalese who find their way to the U.S. to get an education.  Free college.  I'd guessed it was because we completely screwed them in the '50's.  He told us there is no running water on Ebeye.  They bring the water from Kwaj in 5 gallon buckets back to Ebeye on the ferry.  He knows this because he lived there for 2 years until he got his wife and kids to move to the States.  He said a 5 gallon bucket becomes your friend.  He also told me his wife is completely lazy and that he is barely married to her.  I'd guess mainly because he never sees her.  She lives in Enon(?) Oklahoma in a community of Marshalese that work in meat packing plants there.  She has the chance to go to college for free but won't do it .

I've heard the last lab manager married a woman on Ebeye and brought her back over to Kwaj.  It's illegal to do that, so he was fired and immediately sent home.  It seems fairly evident if you break the rules out here you get sent home.  Its not like there are crazy rules.  I did realize today that I need to buddy up to a guy who likes to fight and drink and buy stuff.  I'll try and keep him in line until he buys a bike  with a trailer and maybe a surfboard.  After that, I'll let him get stupid.  He'll get kicked off, but he'll need to sell his stuff cheap right before he goes.  Yep, this is where I step in.  It's a joke of course.

I also learned last night, well not just last night, that while I thought we were screwing the Marshalese (which we are).  It turns out the Marshalese are screwing their own people too.  The landowners down here get the money the U.S government gives to the Marshal Islands. 
The people are screwed.

1-16-15

The first paycheck or paystub was placed in my hands this morning.  I freaked when I looked at it, then looked closer.  They screwed up and paid me for two weeks instead of the one they owed me for.  The money is still great, 3x greater then what I've had lately, and there aren't any places to really spend money down here.  I'm guying a surfboard for $500 tomorrow, then there is some dive equipment, and a bike.  After those things....there isn't much more.

I'd asked around 5 or 6 to come to Frisbee in the park by the cafeteria last Monday. All of them said they would.  I set things up, then watched an older guy new to kiting fly a trainer kite around.  He said he was going to break out the 10 meter Cabrina kite boarding kite.  His daughters showed up to hang out and fly his trainer kite.  No one showed up for Frisbee.  I was willing to skip a meal, but then felt bad about hanging out hoping this guy would provide entertainment with his kite(ie hurt himself), so I rode over to the cafeteria for a bite to eat.  I keep telling myself I'm going to skip a meal, but haven't been able to yet.  I came back, still no one showed up for Frisbee.  I picked up the cones, watch the new kiteboarding guy to make sure he connected the strings to his big kite correctly (which meant I wouldn't get to see him sail across the park and hit a tree or something).  I headed out to the surf spot to see if anyone was there......and build some repoire with them since I need approval to join the club and surf out there.  I see the point.  Same with hangliding....someone gets hurt and they shut the site down.   Nobody was at the surf spot, I saw the tide was too low...

That's a pic of the opposite side of the island....but you can see the tide is low

 

 

Jan 18, 2015

 

Its your Friday here, so its Saturday.  Yeah that kind of talk confuses me too.  Some are still calling Friday Thursday and Saturday Friday.  Our work week here is Tues to Saturday because we are a day ahead.  So I'm sitting here in the Kwaj Lodge on Saturday writing this.  I'm off work tomorrow.  I got off work tonight at 5 as usual, then rode the bike to the Kwaj lodge, our preliminary housing until the "man camp" is up and running.  I changed clothes then skipped my second meal since arriving nearly two weeks ago, to go to the gym.  I rode home (yes the lodge is mostly home now) passing the "Ocean View" bar, better known as the "Snake Pit".  Its an unusual bar open to the people riding by in front , playing music too loud out the front with at least 600 miles of open Pacific beautiful blue ocean in the back.  I also passed a few coworkers who told me they were heading there.  I showered and headed down there.  There were a bunch of the Marshalese workers there and some of my coworkers.  The Marshalese were feeling pretty good.  They have a 7pm curfew on Kwaj.  I overheard at our "safety meeting" this morning that apparently some of the Marshalese didn't make it to the ferry to Ebeye on time.  They called it trespassing.  "You have to make the 7:30 ferry back or you are trespassing" is what John the Marshalese warehouse manager said to the group of around 30 workers.  I don't know, I thought it was kind of sad to use the word trespassing.  We took their island 50 years ago and now THEY are trespassing.  They are really nice people.  It was a sad moment in my head, much to the opposition to their many smiling toothless slightly drunken faces as they departed.

 

Several people that I've hit up about playing ultimate Frisbee told me that "someone is starting a league or something" or "hey someone on the Rover is starting up Frisbee stuff".  I put a post on the local facebook page "Kwaj net" and then the local periodical that gets put out electronically weekly.  The "Rover" is a TV channel that just posts Kwajalein stuff.  I hadn't turned on my TV since I got here, but did to find the ultimate Frisbee league thing.  It was my post!!  hahahaha I made the TV !!

 

 

 OH YEA baby!

 

1-18-15 I think

Big day big day.  I played volleyball with the extremely rule oriented guys this morning...sans Kate, the 15 year old who kicked ass and didn't care about rules.  Two of the guys had a spat, one walked off.  I got schooled on the rules, which was fine, perfectly fine...cause I was being active.  We played until around 11.....then I ran around with my boiz until 11:45...left them ate lunch then headed off to John and Christy's house to buy the surfboard, get signed off and go surfing.  Christy is nice, John is super cool.  They are both around 50, but young.  They live at Dome 181 at Northpoint.  They have these fiberglass dome shaped dwellings on the north shore.  They're strange but resilient I'm told.  3 or 4 igloo shaped and colored bumps that people live in.  Strange.  John and Christy have been in theirs for 5 years.  Plenty of room for two....I would guess around 1000 square ft.  I followed John out to Devils Point or Picadelly Peak or what the hell ever he called it.  He kept talking to me about surf stuff, I had no idea what he was saying. 

 

We got in the water, and I followed him on my surfboard like a champ for around 200 yards.  Something strange happened after that....He kept going and I couldn't...well I couldn't keep up anyhow.  I was done....shoulders spent.  John is 51, 6'3" and around 210lbs,but he's been surfing since he was 25.  Before I met John, I had a total of 2 minutes on a surfboard.  It's a lot of work, and there is no possible other way to work those muscles.

 

I'm going to go to bed now, I wish I could type faster and have more of whats in my head written here.  There's so much. 

 

Oh oh Oh...we had 5 tonight for Ultimate Frisbee!  It was good, although no one's really in shape for it lungwise or handlingwise, but that's ok....we played!!

 

January 21, 2015

 

The surf spot, at least one of the better ones, is about 200 yards from my office/lab, and the shed they let me store my board in is 100ft, and the outdoor shower (they seem to be everywhere on this island) is about 50ft.  Its perfect.  I took my stuff to work today.  Sandals, swimsuit, board leash, and some extra water.  John was supposed to go tonight but he wasn't there. There were a few others out there.  Its really gorgeous, I mean the water is perfectly warm 85 degrees and clear.  I don't know how I've been so lucky.  I actually got up and turned into the wave tonight, but met one of the others soon after the turn.  Shawn told me it was his fault ..that it was my wave, but  he didn't expect me to turn.  I didn't expect me to turn either!  I think I'm going to like this whole surfing thing.  I still made it back in time to get to the cafeteria for a salad, fruit, and chicken and taters.

 

Jan 22

 From an email to my sister:

I would love visitors, although it wouldn't be worth anyones time or money to come here.  Its just not geared to tourism.  NO restaurants, One hotel, and it seems to be full at the moment, background checks...

it was Bingo night at the vets ...It looks like half the island was there.  I took a pic of the bike there as I rode home (from surfing).  Someone rode past on there bike and I said "wow, bingo is pretty popular" He replied "Well, there's nothing else to do".  Little does he know!  There is plenty to do here, just not enough time. 

Here is a pic out the back door of my office/lab.  My body is sore from (trying to ) surfing, however, my soul is doing pretty good!

The bottom pic is the crowd at the vets haul to play Bingo on Thursday night. 

1-24-15

Work is over at 5pm, so we (Ray, the lab technician) and I leave the double Connex box at 4:50.  Its Saturday (your version of Friday), so it's ok to leave a bit earlier than the rest of the week.  We head back to the new parking spot with the company truck.  The older (last week) parking spot was much closer to the cafeteria....about 5 minutes closer by bike.  The company truck gets parked and I jump on my bike, leaving Ray in my dust.  He's unable to catch up with my superior strength and the head wind facing us as we head back to the Kwaj lodge.  I get to the lodge about 2 mins before he does, and quickly go upstairs to change into gym clothes and go get a workout.  At the gym, I have the place to myself for 5 minutes before an out of shape 65 year old shows up.  Then, a guy from our group, much younger around 27, shows up, then one more.  I finish my work out in about a half our, because I still have a little crossfit in my system.  I hopped on the scale and despite staying out of the cafeteria for dinner,(not to mention surfing 4 nights this week for 2.5 hours, riding my bike back a mile in strong headwinds to the lodge, and running twice this week) I've not kept my weight where I wanted.

The police (??), made us start parking near the power plant on Wednesday.  The power plant is about 5 mins further away from the cafeteria than where we were parking.  I've never heard so many grown men cry like babies.  I was pretty sure someone was torturing them secretly.  Most of them could use the exercise, and of course most of them don't really recognize they need it.  Most don't smoke, which is strange for "operators"(guys who run backhoes, track hoes, dozer and the like), and most don't drink (much)....which is even more strange.  They do have complaining down to a tee though.  San Juan,  at least for me has been perfectly honest and forward with things.  No lies have been told, and they have provided for what they said they would.  All in all, it's pretty freaking amazing.  They still bitch.  They bitch about small things, but the most annoying thing is listening to them tell me how bad it's "going to be".  Shut up, look around, shut up, oh and look at your f'''''''''''''''''''''' paycheck.

1-31-15

Nearly had an accident on my way to work this morning. Almost laid my bike down, the back tire came around skidding way more than I was comfortable with. It was my fault. I was being a little hyper at 6am, going about 25 mph downwind on my bike and ran a stop sign. It was still dark out, and the guy who I nearly hit didn't have any lights on his bike. I didn't either, for that matter. I freaked him out. We got over it. I was pumped for work

I don't know why but I seem to really enjoy just blasting past people on my bike.  Even if there aren't people I just enjoy going fast.  I'm always racing people who have no idea I'm racing them.  I win a lot.  My legs feel so strong.  I feel really strong.  I work out every day, only about a half an hour but its a complete half hour.  Also, now, my lab technician and I have started doing work outs in the lab.  I have my smart phone alarms set for about every hour.  One hour is workout, the other stretching.  Its made the days go by so much faster.  I called him my lab tech.  His name is Ray.  We are nearly completely opposite people who get along fantastically well.  We both give each other hell and we both don't get offended.  He's from Vegas, and thinks because there's no real bars here that there is nothing to do.  I got him playing Frisbee with us on Mondays.  I'm fairly certain I've slipped on what had to be his lung a few times.  Its funny to see a guy, to hang out with someone who hasn't really lived, at least not in the sense that I have I guess.  I mean, the first day we spent in the lab cleaning everything up, a cockroach surprised him.  It was a big cockroach granted, like two inches, but he nearly ran me over getting away from it.  It's actually the only one I've seen since I've been here.  He's never been snorkeling.  He did ok, he liked it.  He's never seen a shark.  There were some 6ft Nurse (?) sharks in the harbor and I threatened to throw him in the water.  I joked about tossing him in the water, cause he thought the sharks would attack him.  Its weird for me to meet scared people, but I guess I have my fears too.